This invention relates to apparatus for cooling a web. The apparatus is particularly applicable to the cooling of soft, uncured rubber stock.
The rubber stock comes off a mill in web form at a temperature of between 180.degree. and 320.degree. F. The stock is usually stacked and held in bins awaiting further processing. It is necessary to cool the stock before it is stacked and placed in bins, for otherwise the high temperature of the rubber will effect a partial cure before it can be processed.
One apparatus for cooling the stock consists of a plurality of parallel spaced transverse bars that are mounted between two endless chains. The stock is festooned over the bars and slowly transported from one end of the endless chains to the other. As the stock is being conveyed in festoon fashion on the endless chains, fans blow over the stock to cool it.
The festooning approach is not satisfactory for stiffer green, uncured stock. It simply does not festoon well. Further, the wide web coming off the mil (30 inches to 48 inches wide) is usually split into narrower strips before being cooled. Stock that is longitudinally split upstream of the cooling process is difficult to handle. Still further, there is a tendency of the festooned stock to take a set over the bars, thus imparting a series of transverse bosses into the web. A further major disadvantage of the festooning approach is the floor space required for the apparatus.
An objective of the present invention has been to provide an improved apparatus for cooling an uncured rubber web.
Another objective of the invention has been to provide a maximum square footage of material exposure to cooling in a minimum cubic footage of space.